Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay - December 1, in the library after school.
Shanghai Girls: A Novelby Lisa See - January 12, 2011, in the library after school.
Hunger Gamesby Suzanne Collins - March 2, 2011, in the library after school.
Child 44by Tom Rob Smith - April 6, 2011, in the library after school.
Nuture Shock:New Thinking about Children by Po Bronson - May 4, 2011, in the library after school. This is the collaborative work. Dates may change. We do hope to have a guest speaker.
Share a Book - In Jure we will share favorites and discuss next years picks.
Suggestions for next (2011) year Nuture Shock: New Thinking about Childrenby Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman - May 11, 2011, in the library after school.
For Additional Information: http://www.nurtureshock.com/ The central premise of this book is that many of modern society’s strategies for nurturing children are
in fact backfiring – because key twists in the science have been overlooked. NurtureShock has been featured on Good Morning America, Nightline, All Things Considered, Fresh Air, and in Newsweek.
NurtureShock Columns During the fall of 2009, the autors of this book wrote over 90 columns for Newsweek.com, pushing further into the surprising science of child development. Here are some of the most popular columns. Why Teenagers Are Growing Up So Slowly Today Does sheltering teens from risks slow brain development? Shocking Leaps in IQ How can cheap board games boost intelligence more than an entire year in school? What Do Preschools Have in Common with Bridges and Airports? Clusters of kids weren't learning to read - until scientists discovered the hidden cause. **What Do Children Understand About God?** We assume religion affects our parenting. In fact, our parenting style alters how children conceive of God. The Neuroscience of Children’s Passions Why dopamine makes such a difference in how fast kids learn
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith - April 6, 2011, in the library after school
Tom Rob Smith is worried by cranberries. In his three-storey apartment in south London's converted Jam Factory, he is busy writing his second novel to a tight deadline. His first novel, Child 44, caused a lot of hoopla at the London Book Fair when, after a bidding war, it was sold in 22 countries and Ridley Scott bought the film rights.
Child 44 is a thrilling, intense piece of fiction set in Stalin's Russia. A policeman trying to find a serial killer who is slaughtering dozens of children comes up against a Soviet system that functions on the assumption there is no crime unless it is committed by 'deviants'.
Publishers in Russia have chosen not to publish the book for now, but that doesn't stop Smith being concerned about the cranberries - for which read stupid mistakes made by Westerners setting books in Russia. 'In Russia,' Smith explains, 'readers are scornful of the errors made by non-Russian writers.'
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - March 2, in the library after school In this gripping young adult novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present, the nation of Panem consists of a shining Capital surrounded by twelve outlying Districts, in the ruins of the area once known as North America. Sixteen-year-old Katniss and her friend Gale forage for food in the woods surrounding their impoverished District, in this stratified society where the Capital controls all resources. The main support for both their families, Katniss and Gale are apprehensive of the approaching annual Reaping, when two “tributes” between the ages of 12 and 18 will be chosen by lottery from each of the twelve districts to compete in The Hunger Games, a survival contest on live TV in which teenagers fight to the death and there can be only one victor. When her beloved younger sister Prim is chosen as one of the “tributes,” Katniss volunteers to go in her sister’s place. Her fellow tribute from District 12 is Peeta, a boy with whom she soon develops a complicated relationship. After traveling to the Capital and undergoing elaborate training and preparation, Katniss and Peeta are launched into the game. In the terrifying events that follow, Katniss must marshal all her skills to stay alive and all her emotions to remain a caring human being in the face of the stark brutality of the Games.
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See - January 12, in the library after school
For a video of the author click here. In 1937 Shanghai, sisters Pearl and May, are beautiful, modern, and carefree --- until the day their father tells them that he has gambled away their wealth and is selling the girls as wives to men from the United States. Along their journey, they make terrible sacrifices, face impossible choices, and confront a devastating, life-changing secret, but through it all the two heroines of this astounding new novel hold fast to who they are --- Shanghai girls.
Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.
Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.
Tatiana de Rosnay offers us a brilliantly subtle, compelling portrait of France under occupation and reveals the taboos and silence that surround this painful episode.
Meeting November 3, 2010 in the library after school:
ABOUT KATHRYN STOCKETT
Kathryn Stockett was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Alabama with a degree in English and Creative Writing, she moved to New York City, where she worked in magazine publishing and marketing for nine years. She currently lives in Atlanta with her husband and daughter. This is her first novel. Dreamworks and Steven Spielberg are teaming up to bring this amazing novel to the silver screen.
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.
Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.
Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.
Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.
In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women-mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends-view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.
Our First Meeting will be October 6th in the Library after school.
Calling all readers! The FCHS Faculty and Staff book club will have its first meeting of the year Wednesday, October 6th after school in the library. Our first selection is Beach Trip by Cathy Holton. If you haven’t read it, don’t worry, come anyway. We will talk the book, set meeting schedule and discuss agenda for the year. We would like input from anyone interested in participating. This is not a high intellectual discussion but rather a fun interactive discussion for those who like to read and to get input from others. Meetings usually last about 45 minutes.
FCHSFSBC Discussion Dates and Selections- Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay - December 1, in the library after school.
- Shanghai Girls: A Novelby Lisa See - January 12, 2011, in the library after school.
- Hunger Gamesby Suzanne Collins - March 2, 2011, in the library after school.
- Child 44by Tom Rob Smith - April 6, 2011, in the library after school.
- Nuture Shock:New Thinking about Children by Po Bronson - May 4, 2011, in the library after school. This is the collaborative work. Dates may change. We do hope to have a guest speaker.
- Share a Book - In Jure we will share favorites and discuss next years picks.
Suggestions for next (2011) yearNuture Shock: New Thinking about Children by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman - May 11, 2011, in the library after school.
For Additional Information: http://www.nurtureshock.com/
The central premise of this book is that many of modern society’s strategies for nurturing children are
in fact backfiring – because key twists in the science have been overlooked. NurtureShock has been featured on Good Morning America, Nightline, All Things Considered, Fresh Air, and in Newsweek.
During the fall of 2009, the autors of this book wrote over 90 columns for Newsweek.com, pushing further into the surprising science of child development. Here
are some of the most popular columns.
Why Teenagers Are Growing Up So Slowly Today
Does sheltering teens from risks slow brain development?
Shocking Leaps in IQ
How can cheap board games boost intelligence more than an entire year in school?
What Do Preschools Have in Common with Bridges and Airports?
Clusters of kids weren't learning to read - until scientists discovered the hidden cause.
**What Do Children Understand About God?**
We assume religion affects our parenting. In fact, our parenting style alters how children conceive of God.
The Neuroscience of Children’s Passions
Why dopamine makes such a difference in how fast kids learn
Supposedly, preschoolers' delay of gratification predicts SAT scores 14 years later. But the spoonful of evidence doesn't justify the hype.
**How Biased Science led to Emotional Intelligence curriculum in all UK Schools**
A re-analysis of the pilot study that led to Emotional Intelligence becoming the UK's new national education strategy.
**A Cure for ADHD?**
25% of kids lose their ADHD symptoms after a tonsillectomy. Now why would that be?
New Evidence on Whether 5-Year-Olds Should Redshirt Kindergarten
According to Outliers, savvy parents give kids a comparative advantage by holding them out of kindergarten until they are six. New, better science explains why that's wrong.
Does Labeling Behavior as "Bullying" Hide the Real Problem?
New science on how bullies choose victims.
**The Social Hierarchy of Preschoolers**
Why socially dominant behavior has different meaning in September than in February.
-for more, scroll down.
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith - April 6, 2011, in the library after school
Tom Rob Smith is worried by cranberries. In his three-storey apartment in south London's converted Jam Factory, he is busy writing his second novel to a tight deadline. His first novel, Child 44, caused a lot of hoopla at the London Book Fair when, after a bidding war, it was sold in 22 countries and Ridley Scott bought the film rights.
Child 44 is a thrilling, intense piece of fiction set in Stalin's Russia. A policeman trying to find a serial killer who is slaughtering dozens of children comes up against a Soviet system that functions on the assumption there is no crime unless it is committed by 'deviants'.
Publishers in Russia have chosen not to publish the book for now, but that doesn't stop Smith being concerned about the cranberries - for which read stupid mistakes made by Westerners setting books in Russia. 'In Russia,' Smith explains, 'readers are scornful of the errors made by non-Russian writers.'
Link to YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXLCYUSRX18
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - March 2, in the library after school
In this gripping young adult novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present, the nation of Panem consists of a shining Capital surrounded by twelve outlying Districts, in the ruins of the area once known as North America. Sixteen-year-old Katniss and her friend Gale forage for food in the woods surrounding their impoverished District, in this stratified society where the Capital controls all resources. The main support for both their families, Katniss and Gale are apprehensive of the approaching annual Reaping, when two “tributes” between the ages of 12 and 18 will be chosen by lottery from each of the twelve districts to compete in The Hunger Games, a survival contest on live TV in which teenagers fight to the death and there can be only one victor.
When her beloved younger sister Prim is chosen as one of the “tributes,” Katniss volunteers to go in her sister’s place. Her fellow tribute from District 12 is Peeta, a boy with whom she soon develops a complicated relationship. After traveling to the Capital and undergoing elaborate training and preparation, Katniss and Peeta are launched into the game. In the terrifying events that follow, Katniss must marshal all her skills to stay alive and all her emotions to remain a caring human being in the face of the stark brutality of the Games.
Discussion Questions
Link to Suzanne Collins website. Wikipedia article Quotable quotes from the books
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See - January 12, in the library after school
For a video of the author click here.
In 1937 Shanghai, sisters Pearl and May, are beautiful, modern, and carefree --- until the day their father tells them that he has gambled away their wealth and is selling the girls as wives to men from the United States. Along their journey, they make terrible sacrifices, face impossible choices, and confront a devastating, life-changing secret, but through it all the two heroines of this astounding new novel hold fast to who they are --- Shanghai girls.
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay - December 1, in the library after school
Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.
Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.
Tatiana de Rosnay offers us a brilliantly subtle, compelling portrait of France under occupation and reveals the taboos and silence that surround this painful episode.
Meeting November 3, 2010 in the library after school:
Kathryn Stockett was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Alabama with a degree in English and Creative Writing, she moved to New York City, where she worked in magazine publishing and marketing for nine years. She currently lives in Atlanta with her husband and daughter. This is her first novel.
Dreamworks and Steven Spielberg are teaming up to bring this amazing novel to the silver screen.
Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women:
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.
Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.
Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.
Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.
In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women-mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends-view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.
Our First Meeting will be October 6th in the Library after school.
Questions for Book Club
Reading Club Guide and Reviews
Author, Cathy Holton's Page